The present invention pertains to a system for retrieving cards such as microfiche bearing cards wherein a specific card is selected and retrieved for the purpose of projecting onto a viewing screen images from the thus retrieved cards.
According to the prior art card retrieval systems a rotary drum was provided for accommodating a multiplicity of information bearing cards each having a unique code structure (for example, defined by magnetic material).
A specific card to be retrieved was detected by a proper magnetic selector assembly during revolution of the rotary drum and, the revolution of the rotary drum was thereafter inhibited to permit the specific card to be drawn out from a card stack.
However, it was necessarily required for the above discussed type of the prior art systems to initiate and complete the revolution of the rotary drum each time the respective one of the information bearing cards was to be retrieved. This prior art system required a relatively complex construction and was difficult to manipulate.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a selector assembly which can select a desired card from a multiplicity of information bearing cards without difficulty.
Pursuant to the principle of the present invention, a magnetic strip is secured on each of information bearing cards as means for selecting and retrieving a desired one of the cards from a card stack, the respective magnetic strip being provided with a unique coded notch structure. A plurality of selector bars are positioned in a manner to meet at right angles to the card stack and confront the respective magnetically coded edges of the cards. A magnet means spaced against the magnetic strips of the cards serves to attract only the magnetic strip of the specific card due to cooperation of the selector bars and the notch structures of the cards.
The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention are set forth in the appended claims and the present invention as to its organization and its mode of operation will best be understood from a consideration of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiments which are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.